“Fine,” he mutters. “But not here. This is a bad place. I can still feel what we went through here.”
“Don’t worry, it will be an adventure. Everyone is all happy with the baby, and we can explore without getting an earful from Dad.”
“Your dad is terrifying, just saying, so if he comes at us, I’m throwing you under the cart,” Jarek says and licks his bottom lip.
I flick him a saucy grin. “Coward.”
“No, smart.”
Mordecai snickers and takes my hand. “Well, we’re here. Let’s go exploring.”
It’s eerie. There’s really not much to see, but the place feels quiet and heavy.
“What do you think happened here?” I murmur. “After, I mean. It’s completely gone. I almost don’t recognise it.”
“I have no idea,” Jarek says, running his hand over a plastic sign. The paint and colour are gone, and the surface is pocked.
We get to a place that has massive steel beams erected into the sky. For a moment, I see gates that block out the sky and towering skyscrapers. I shudder and turn away.
“Let’s go this way.”
I shift, and we trot through the trees, but I pause, looking at a huge hill. It’s covered with wildflowers.
I take a step that way and let out a bark. I run up the hill. Fear grips me, and I’m suddenly scared to look back. A monster is coming. I look over my shoulder and see nothing but the forest and grass. There’s no monster.
The Ravage Wolf.
I huff and whine as the memory consumes me.
Jarek noses me, and the three of us stand on the top of the hill looking down. On their side of this hill, the forest is different. Inside is thick, darker, greener, while on the other side, the forest is full of tall, ancient trees. In the distance, I can see mountains.
Haven. I want to see it, just once.
I take off running.
We run for two days, stopping to hunt and sleep, curled up in fur. On the third day, I wake knowing we have to go back, but I can’t.
I charge ahead, and we make it into the foothills.
Mordecai is the one who finds the path through the mountain. He’s the one who leads us to the valley.
I shift to my human form and walk into it. The grasses are thigh high, and it feels empty, yet something won’t let me leave.
“So, this is Haven. The Resistance camp. I thought it would be tended to. It looks like everyone forgot about it.”
Mordecai is silent, but he had a lot of friends here. A lot of people he loved who died.
He walks to a wall, and I follow. Shocked to see the wall has been carved and someone has left a shrine here, long forgotten.
“Here lies the people who would not give up or give in. Those taken too soon but whom gave their lives so you could live free. Theo, Charlotte, Ava, Banks, Kendric, Marshall, Taryn, Mia, Alec…” Jarek keeps reading the names until he gets to the bottom. “And to those who sacrificed it all to give humanity a chance—Legion, Walker, Keres, Jarek, and my brother Mordecai.”
My alpha drops to his knees in the grass, his head bowed, overcome with emotion.
I wander around slowly until I find the path that takes me up to overlook the valley from the back. It’s beautiful.
But, there’s this rock. I turn away, determined to ignore it.
It’s just a rock. I pace around it, staring at it. I stew over it. With everything in me, I try to leave.
